


Branches

by Pixelated_Scout



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Family Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 21:26:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9625946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixelated_Scout/pseuds/Pixelated_Scout
Summary: Shiro and Allura met in college and their quick friendship soon turned into a fast relationship. After both parties going through their fair share of emotional, mental and physical turmoil, the two decided to get married and start a family. A happy family with a kind and loving home, Shiro, Allura and their four children, Hunk, Keith, Lance and Pidge, spend their time going on daily adventures and living life to the fullest. But of course, they face some intense challenges along the way.





	

Branches – Chapter 1

 

“Momma! Momma listen—Momma help!!”

Allura sat up from the beach towel, lifting her sunglasses and looking at her son. Before her stood her second youngest—Lance. His small chubby hands and feet coated in a thick layer of sand and tears forming in the corners of his eyes, Allura took a paper towel from her bag and began to wipe his eyes.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Allura asked comfortingly, taking her free hand and placing it on his back, rubbing small circles against his dark blue swim shirt.

The five-year-old sniffled, furrowing his brow in frustration. “I- I made, I, I made a s-sandcastle!! And, and!” He hiccupped, tears beginning to roll down his chubby cheeks. “And!--”

Allura hushed him sweetly, pulling him into her lap and holding his head against her chest. “Calm down sweetie. Now slowly, tell me what happened.”

Lance, wet now from both his own tears and ocean water, clung onto the top of Allura’s bathing suit. He took a big breath in before slowly beginning to explain what happened. “Keith—Keith did a bad thing.”

“What did he do?” Allura rubbed the back of his head, looking up to notice her oldest son, Hunk, running towards her.

“Keith destroyed Lance’s sand castle!” yelled Hunk, a disgruntled Keith not far behind him.

“I did not!” yelled her second oldest, Keith. 

“Hunk, Keith, sit down.” Allura sternly said, both children sitting down.

“I didn’t do anything!” protested Keith, his arms crossed.

“Lance,” began Allura, “Did Keith destroy your sand castle?”

Lance nodded, his big blue eyes looking up at Allura.

Allura sighed. She set Lance down on the blanket next to her before pointing to Keith then pointing to the spot in front of her.

Keith stood, walking over to the spot Allura pointed to. He looked away, his hands balled into fists at his sides.

“Keith, why’d you do that?” Allura asked calmly, tilting her head to the side. 

“Because Lance made fun of me.”

“How did Lance make fun of you?” She glanced towards Lance, looking a little guilty.

“He said my swim shirt is stupid.” Keith huffed.

“Lance, why did you say your brother’s swim shirt is stupid?” Allura deadpanned.

“Because it’s red and red is a stupid color.” Lance openly admitted.

Allura had to do her best to keep herself from cracking a smile. “Is that all?”

Keith nodded.

“Well,” she sighed, “Lance, red isn’t a ‘stupid’ color. It’s your brother’s favorite color. How would you feel if Keith said blue is a stupid color?”

“I’d feel mad!” Lance jumped up, throwing his arms in the air.

“So how do you think Keith felt when you made fun of his favorite color?” A small smirk tugged itself to the corner of her lips.

“Oh…” Lance put his arms down and looked at the ground, realization dawning upon him.

“And Keith, just because you were mad at Lance doesn’t mean to should have destroyed his sand castle. Do you understand?” she calmly asked.

Keith nodded. “I’m sorry I destroyed your sand castle, Lance,” he quietly apologized.

“It’s okay, Keith!” Lance smiled, tackling his brother down into a hug. Keith yelped as Lance clung to his older brother, grinning. 

“Eww! Lance germs! Get off, _get off_!” Keith yelled.

Allura smiled and settled down on the towel as the two boys wrestled. Hunk laid down next to Allura, the seven-year-old resting his head on her shoulder. As time passed, Keith finally surrendered and allowed his little brother to hug him. After they finally calmed down, the two sat on the blanket together, drinking Capri-suns and debating on what the shapes of different clouds looked like. 

After a while, Allura’s youngest, Katie, who was nicknamed ‘Pidge’ or ‘Pidgeon’, came waddling up the beach with her father trailing closely behind.

“Momma! I swimmed! I swimmed!” called Pidge, running up to the blanket. The child threw herself onto Allura’s stomach, cheering gleefully.

“Oof!” Allura laughed as the four-year-old flung herself onto her abdomen. “You swam?” Allura asked, sitting up and holding the water-wing clad child in front of her. 

“Tell Momma how you swam, Pidgeon.” Shiro took a seat on the blanket next to Allura, Hunk getting up and climbing into Shiro’s lap. Shiro wrapped his arms around Hunk, smiling down at him.

“Papa put me—In water! I swimmed!” Pidge rose her arms as high as she could with the water wings on.

“I’m so proud of you!” Allura raised her up higher, then laid back down and held Pidge on top of her closely. Pidge, tuckered out, cuddled up close to her mother and smiled. Shiro laid down next to Allura, Hunk cuddling up to Shiro in the same style Pidge was to Allura. Keith and Lance sat at the bottom of the blanket, drawing in the sand with the straws from their Capri-Suns.

Time passed, and the sun slowly went down as the family relaxed. A day like this one was fairly common for the family of six, and these days were always utterly perfect.  
\--

“Come on my little weirdos, into the car all of you!” Called Allura, the kids climbing into the minivan one by one.

“Last one in the van is a dork!” yelled Lance, running to the van. Keith followed closely behind, both boys carrying an armful of sand toys.

On the other side of the car, Shiro was buckling a fast asleep Pidge into her car seat. Hunk climbed into one of the seats in the very back as Keith and Lance fought to get into the van, pushing against each other. Allura came up behind the boys and picked them up, placing them both in the van at the same time.

“There. Now you’re both dorks.” Allura smiled, sticking her tongue out at the boys. Keith rolled his eyes, a skill he learned from his mother. He climbed into the very back seat next to Hunk, both boys ready to be secured into their twin booster seats. At the same time Allura climbed into the back to buckle the two boys in, Shiro had walked around to the other side of the car to secure Lance in his own seat. 

Once everything and everyone was in the van, they headed out.

Hunk was rambling to Keith about some sort of science fact he had heard on the TV, while Lance watched carefully out the window at their surroundings. The setting summer sun created a masterpiece in the sky, a gentle smile resting on both Shiro and Allura’s faces. Allura looked at the time on the dashboard—6:45. At that moment, Shiro felt his stomach growl.

“Do you want dinner?” he asked, his prosthetic arm resting on the window. He rolled down the window, letting the gentle salt water breeze hit his face and his hair.

Allura glanced towards Shiro, and then in the rear-view mirror, seeing all four of their sand-covered children. “We’d have to wash the munchkins first.”

“Challenge acknowledged.” Shiro smiled.  
\--  
“I’m the captain now!” cried Lance, shoving Keith over in the bathtub.

“No!” screamed Keith in return, grabbing onto the side of the large bathtub and heaving himself up.

“Okay boys, calm down. Come on, let me rinse your hair.” Shiro said as he sat in the bathtub with the two, taking a cup and scooping a bubble free bit of water into it.

Lance covered his eyes, quickly inhaling and holding his breath. Shiro chuckled at the actions of his animated son.

“Here comes!” Shiro said, pouring the water over Lance’s head. Scooping another bit of water into the cup, Lance began to climb out of the tub.

On the other side of the bathroom sat Allura with Hunk and Pidge. She was perched on a small stool near the sink, Pidge standing patiently in front of her. Allura was drying Pidge off, using the quick motions of the towel around her head to dry her fluffy strawberry blonde hair.

Hunk, now clad in clean underwear, was holding three other pairs of undergarments in his arms.  
He was given the task of getting clean clothes for everyone else. He felt confident that he had successfully completed the task at hand.

Lance flopped onto the towel covered floor, jumping up quickly and running over to Allura. 

“Momma! All clean!” he cheered.

“Very good, Lance!” Allura cooed, toweling off the small boy. “How’s Keith?” This question was directed at Shiro, who was currently dealing with Keith.

In the bathtub, thick tears ran down Keith’s face as he gripped a washcloth. “Papa, it burns!” he cried, his eyes shut tight.

“Shh, shh… Don’t worry Keith, you’ll be okay.” Shiro said, trying to maneuver everything with just one arm. Managing to run some clean water from the bathtub spout, he took the semi-warm water and filled the cup with it.

Keith slowly began to calm down as the warm water was poured over his head and focused on his eyes. Once the burning stopped, he went quiet before clinging onto Shiro. Shiro smiled and began to drain the bathtub. He climbed out of the tub, Keith still clinging to him like a small Koala bear. 

He placed Keith on the floor, picking up a towel and wrapping it around his own waist. Keith walked over to Allura, patiently waiting next in line to get toweled off.

After the messy bathroom was straightened and all of the children—and adults—were dressed and dry, they finally piled into the minivan again, debating on where to go to dinner.  
\--  
“Round table?” Shiro asked.

“Pizza’s too greasy. Try again.” Allura replied.

“C.C’s Pizza?”

“Pizza’s mediocre. Nice try.”

“Red Robin?”

“Overhyped. And it’s on the other side of town. Keep trying.”

“Applebees?”

“It’s Applebee’s. Need I say more?”

“You’re right. Panda Express?”

“Fast food? Really Shiro?”

“There’s no pandas! Hunk will cry again!” yelled Lance from the backseat.

“Okay okay, fine… How about Dave & Buster’s?” Shiro said with an exasperated sigh.

“Yeah!” yelled Hunk, Lance, and Keith from the back of the van. Lance lifted Pidge’s hand to simulate that she was cheering too.

“Dave & Busters it is!” chimed Allura, all of the kids cheering.  
\--  
After getting seated at a booth big enough for six, the family ordered their food and drinks. Lance got a cheeseburger and french fries, Keith got a grilled cheese also with french fries, and Hunk got pretzel dogs. Allura ordered buttered pasta for Pidge, that would undoubtable be spilled everywhere.

After ordering for the kids, Allura and Shiro finally ordered for themselves.

Allura cleared her throat and smirked. “I’ll have the Buffalo Wing Burger, extra tater tots please. Oh! And a Key Lime Coconut Margarita on the rocks.”

Shiro couldn’t help but chuckle once Allura was done ordering. “I’ll have a Crisp Apple Pecan Salad and the Tomato Feta Soup. I’ll just stick with ice water, please.”

The waitress stared at them for a moment before nodding and smiling. “Alright! Coming right up!” She grinned before walking off.

“Momma! Can we go play games now?” Lance asked. Allura was one step ahead of him and was already digging through her oversized purse.

“Here. Five dollars for each of you.” Allura said, distributing the money amount Keith, Lance and Hunk. 

“Yay, thank you!” Lance stood up on his chair and kissed his mother on the cheek.

“Thank you, Momma.” Keith said softly, a gentle smile on his face.

“Thank you!!” exclaimed Hunk, grabbing Allura’s hand for a moment and tightly squeezing it.

“Make sure you watch your brothers, Hunk.” Shiro added, and Hunk nodded confidently.

The boys ran off to the nearest coin machine, racing each other to see who could get there fastest. In the meantime, Pidge sat on her knees, scribbling away on a piece of paper with an assortment of crayons.

“Can you believe he just turned seven?” Shiro broke the silence, his voice carrying an air of nostalgia. He kept a watchful eye on the boys as they played their games. 

Allura looked towards Shiro, placing her hand on top of his. “They’re growing up too fast. All of them.” she said as she looked over at Pidge, who was still making a colorful chaotic masterpiece.

Shiro sighed happily before placing his free hand on Pidge’s side. Pidge looked up at Shiro and tilted her head. “Huh, Papa??”

“Nothing, Pigeon. Your art looks great!”

“Thank Papa!” She gave him a wide, toothy grin.  
\--  
Allura sipped her drink as they continued to watch the boys play around, Pidge now laying on the booth and playing a game on Shiro’s phone.

“Lance is going into first grade next year. Keith is going into second. Hunk is going into third. I don’t know if I can even stand watching Pidge going into kindergarten.” Allura sighed, stirring her drink, resting her chin on her other hand. 

The calming feeling of Shiro’s hand rubbing the small of Allura’s back brought her out of her small trance. Allura’s eyes quickly met Shiro’s, the two staring deeply at each other before they both laughed. Shiro’s grip around Allura’s waist tightened gently.

“But they’re happy. And they’re growing. So we should be happy too.” He explained.

She took a sip of her margarita, exhaling out of her nose. “You’re right. But it seems like just yesterday, Keith was in trouble for biting Pidge’s foot because he was jealous.”

Shiro chuckled into his water, shaking his head as he quickly took a sip. “She still has that scar, doesn’t she?”

Allura nodded. “Speaking of scars.” She leaned back against the booth and gazed at Shiro, taking her thumb and tracing it across the bridge of his nose. “How’s this one?”

Shiro took Allura’s hand, holding it tightly. He didn’t have much of a response. Lately, his glasses had been irritating his scar, making him a little agitated. “I’m fine, Allura. Please—don’t worry about it, okay?”

Allura shrugged and shook her head. “Whatever you say.”

Pidge placed Shiro’s phone on the table and stood up on the booth, bouncing up and down excitedly. “Brother’s back brother’s back!” Pidge squealed.

Shiro took his phone and shoved it back into his pocket, just as all of the boys ran back to the booth, piles of tickets in hand.

“Papa look! Look how many tickets we got!” exclaimed Keith, seeming happier than ever. “Lance and I won them!”

“Yeah, with my five dollars…” Hunk muttered, crossing his arms as Pidge clung to him.

“Don’t worry! Hunk! All’s okay!” Pidge nuzzled Hunk, causing Hunk to smile a bit.

Allura was about to speak up about how the boys were wrong to take Hunk’s five dollars, but when the server came back with all their food, all was forgotten.

Everyone got their food, Shiro of course stealing at least a couple fries from all the boys when they weren’t looking. Pidge made a huge mess, as expected. Hunk was surprised that any of the food actually got in his sister’s mouth. And Lance and Keith butted elbows for almost the entire meal. Of course, everyone but Allura and Shiro wanted to end the dinner with some dessert. But seeing as how it was already 9PM and Pidge was fast asleep on the booth, they figured it best to go home.

Whining and tugging on the sleeves of the two parents ensued, but after having four children, the couple had learned a thing or two on how to resist the pouting and the puppy-dog eyes. Finally getting all of the kids into the van, Shiro decided it best to take the long way home since everyone, including Allura, would be asleep by the time they got there.  
\--  
As Shiro drove, looking out across beautiful horizon, he watched the taillights of the cars around him. He thought about the entire idea of how he ended up here: with four beautiful children, a perfect wife, a stable life, a simple home and the ability to live happily with his family regardless of the mood of the day. As he looked around, seeing the large green bushes and trees that lined the highway, he couldn’t help but think back to the life he had before his family. Before Hunk, Keith, Lance or Pidge. Or even, Allura.

His family was well off. His parents had supported his choices to go to college, and his college fund was enough for a full four years at the university of his choice. He had passed his freshmen and sophomore semesters with flying colors, but when the time came for his junior year, something just... stopped working inside of him. The fire he held in his heart for learning was gone.

Allura had tried to be the best girlfriend she could, taking care of him and trying to get him back into the swing of doing schoolwork. _‘It’s just two more years, Shiro. You can do this,’_ she would always remind him.

Those words had been stuck in the back of his mind perpetually, like permanent marker on his brain. But he could never figure out what had died inside of him—or what convinced him to drop out of college and join the military.

He had lost more than the fire inside of him over the next few years. He had lost his friends, his right arm and his father. The memories were all blurred together, with only a few select ones sticking out to him.

He remembered returning home from his deployment, a stump where his arm used to be, along with a vicious infection, requiring additional medical attention from stateside doctors. He remembered his mother at his bedside, telling him that, while he had been deployed, his father had passed away. But, most of all, he remembered feeling so completely and utterly depressed when he checked into the hospital. 

He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t eat. He lost weight, refusing all the hospital food he was given three times a day. He missed his life before the military. He had missed his friends that he made in battle. He had missed his arm that he once had. But, above all else, he had missed his father. He’d missed the times they had spent together. From when he taught him how to play baseball, to when they would watch every football game together. His missed how his father had supported him all throughout school, and how every day when he came home, the pair would talk for hours on end about their days. He missed him terribly.

He had blamed the loss of his father on himself. It wasn’t his fault, of course, it was the sickness he came down with. But Shiro had felt that maybe if he hadn’t enlisted, maybe he would have been able to be there for his father. Maybe things would have been different.

Shiro remembered the days he spent, laying in the hospital room, too weak to cry or talk. The doctors had told him that because only the bottom part of his arm was missing, he’d be able to have a fully functioning prosthetic once the infection cleared up. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything. His mother would spend day and night with him, sleeping on the small pull out couch in his room.

He remembered getting sick to the point of being moved from rehabilitation into the ICU. He remembered the pained look in his mother’s eyes when she’d found out that she wasn’t allowed to stay in the ICU with him due to his condition. The heartbroken expression on his mother’s sweet face, along with everything else that had occurred, had caused Shiro to come to a sudden realization: he needed to get better. 

He had soon started eating again, little by little. He’d started walking again, building up the muscles in his legs again. When he was tired, he slept. He had started talking again, and even had enough energy to cry. At that point in time, he had been moved back to rehabilitation. His mother would come to see him daily, and he would talk and joke with her, reminiscing about times before their lives snowballed out of control. 

At that time, seeing his mother happy again had been one of the best feelings in the world. .

_‘Do you remember that girl who you dated in College?’_ his mother had asked him one day.

_‘Allura? Of course, How could I forget her?’_ he’d replied.

_‘She’s been coming by the hospital every single day. Since she’s not family, they won’t let her in to see you.’_ his mother had explained.

_‘Are you serious? She still lives here? She… Still remembers me?’_ At that moment, Shiro had been struck with... a lot of emotions that he didn’t know how to comprehend. He had been sure that Allura probably hated him for how he left without saying much of anything, and how he had gone and messed himself up out in the battlefield. She had always been so protective. He had been sure then, that if she saw him, he’d probably get a huge slap on the face.

_‘Please ask them to add her to my visitors list, Mom. I need to see her.’_

Allura hadn’t slapped Shiro when she’d seen him. Instead, she had begun to cry. She had been too scared to hug him, feeling that in his state, she could hurt him in one way or another, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Shiro remembered pulling Allura down into a hug, both of them clutching onto each other for what felt like forever. 

At that moment, he had known, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

They had sat and talked for hours, both of them catching up on the happenings of their lives. She had explained how she had tried to date since he had left, but it was always too hard. He had made jokes about how the dating pool wasn’t exactly great where he had been, eliciting a laugh from her. To him, her laugh sounded magical, like gentle wind chimes. She’d made Shiro feel so relaxed, like for once, he hadn’t gone through all of the trauma that he suffered.

_‘I’ve missed you Shiro,’_ the gentle words had escaped her lips, her hand in his. He remembered smiling fondly towards her. He had been about to tell her the same, when they were interrupted by a knock on the already open door.

_‘I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Shirogane. But visiting hours are over,’_ the nurse had apologized.

Shiro had squeezed Allura’s hand, not wanting to ever let go. Allura had nodded towards the nurse before leaning down and kissing Shiro’s forehead.

_‘I’ll be back tomorrow,’_ she had whispered against his forehead. He had squeezed her hand once more, nodding.

As she grabbed her purse and began to walk out of the room, he’d spoke up.

_‘Allura—‘_ he had sputtered

She had stopped and turned to look at him.

_‘Uh—Never mind. I’ll see you tomorrow.’_

She’d chuckled. _‘See you tomorrow.’_  
\--  
Now, Shiro looked over towards Allura who was sleeping in the passenger seat. He looked over her beautiful features, and how peaceful she looked when she slept. He reflected on how much she had helped him, mentally and physically. When he was drowning in a sea of his own emotional turmoil and suffering, she was the one who saved him from the strong current. 

“I love you, Allura.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic I've written since 2014 and I'm honestly pretty nervous. It's been a while since I've been able to get any good ideas for fics, but when this one came to mind I honestly knew I had to do it. A huge thanks to Mega-Sheep for being my incredibly helpful Beta-Reader who also helped write some of Shiro's flashback sequence. She has a really cool YOI!! fic that's really really cool, so you should go check her out.  
> Also a big thanks to my boyfriend Cameron and my friends Arty and Tavish for helping me come up with the restaurants listed in Allura and Shiro's conversation.  
> Thank you for reading chapter one!


End file.
